Category: Culture

Today at the headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee closed with approving the inscription of 120 heritage sites in the Islamic world, of which 117 sites on the Islamic World Heritage List and 3 sites on the newly created List of Islamic World Heritage in Danger.  

This meeting was held as part of ISESCO’s efforts to conserve civilizational heritage in the Islamic world and promote its efforts aiming to safeguard and document the elements of tangible heritage in Member States in implementation of its new vision on heritage and culture.

The meeting brought together the representatives of the Member States of the Committee, namely the State of Kuwait, Republic of Iraq, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as two representatives of the Assisting Scientific Commission from the Kingdom of Morocco. Nevertheless, the representatives of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Uzbekistan could not attend.

The meeting, convened on 2-3 December 2019, examined the items placed on the agenda. After due deliberations, Mr. Najib Ghiati, Director of Culture at ISESCO, announced that the Committee approved the inscription of 117 sites on ISESCO’s Islamic World Heritage List, of which 49 new sites on the Final List and 5 new sites and 53 sites on the Tentative List inscribed on UNESCO Tentative List as well.

Mr. Ghiati stated that the Committee inscribed 3 sites in Yemen on the List Islamic World Heritage in Danger while 7 other sites were deferred.

The Committee agreed to create an exclusive list of the holy sites in the Islamic world covering Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and examine the proposal of establishing the Islamic World Museums Week.

Moreover, the Committee urged ISESCO General Directorate to dispatch a technical committee of experts to the Republic of Yemen for assistance in rehabilitating cultural heritage and natural reserves in danger; inscribing further monuments on the Islamic World Heritage List, in coordination with the relevant competent parties in Yemen; allocating a number of executive programmes for Member States to inscribe industrial heritage sites on WHL and IWHL. The Committee is also tasked with organizing intensive training sessions for Member States’ staff so as to be able to prepare application files of heritage sites and intangible heritage elements for inscription on the IWHL.

In the same vein, the Committee reaffirmed the importance of urging Member States’ competent parties to prepare exclusive lists for the elements of tangible and intangible heritage, provide relevant necessary information to be published on the “Web Portal for Historical Monuments and Archeological Sites and Sites in the Islamic World”, created by ISESCO to list the historic landmmarks and heritage sites of civilizational and human significance in its Member States; and set up an interactive online bibliographic database for the elements of architectural and urban heritage in the Islamic world.

The Committee requested that Members States’ culture ministers be invited, through the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers (Tunis, 17-18 December 2019), to contribute to the implementation of further programmes of cultural heritage preservation and submission of more application files for inscription on the IWHL.

At the close of the meeting, the Committee thanked H.E. Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ISESCO Director General, and the General Directorate for the good hospitality, their sustained efforts to protect cultural and natural heritage in the Islamic world and their keenness to improve the performance of the IWHC and maintain the periodicity of its meetings.

Today, the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC) kicked off at the headquarters of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat, and will convene over the course of two days.

In the ISESCO address he gave at the opening session, Mr. Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture at ISESCO, warned that the List of World Heritage in Danger includes 37 sites in the Islamic world, out of the List’s 54 sites, accounting for about 70% of the sites in danger. “Our mission today is to build a new system capable of building capacities to safeguard and rehabilitate our cultural and civilizational heritage to contribute more strongly in our countries’ respective socio-economic development”, the ISESCO official noted.

Likewise, Mr. Rhiati reaffirmed that ISESCO’s new vision directs greater attention to promoting the efforts exerted in safeguarding, rehabilitating and investing in cultural heritage by focusing on programmes and activities that aim to give heritage its due importance and promote its role in consolidating cultural identity and achieving socio-economic development.

These goals are in harmony with the contents of the recommendations issued by the IWHC Eighth Meeting, which stressed the need to direct more attention to safeguarding this heritage, and create contracts between the governmental sectors in charge of heritage, specialized international bodies, and the organizations of civil society operating in this field to draw a participatory roadmap with complementary roles. The Committee also recommended the inscription of more cultural heritage sites on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL), the creation of ISESCO’s Web Portal for Historic Landmarks and Archeological Sites in the Islamic World, and the proclamation of a museum week in the Islamic world.

On another note, during the opening session, Dr. Waleed Alsaif, the IWHC Chair, welcomed the meeting’s participants and extended his thanks to ISESCO and its General Directorate for holding this extraordinary meeting in the best conditions, and commended the Organization’s intention to inscribe one hundred (100) new heritage site on the Islamic World Heritage List.

Afterwards, Dr. Ezzedin Al-Asbahi, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen, gave a presentation on “heritage and reserves in the Republic of Yemen: reality and challenges”.

A group photo of the participants was taken prior to proceeding to the meeting’s working sessions.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will host an open meeting with Dr. Alioune Sall, Founder, Executive Director of the African Futures Institute in South Africa, at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday 4 December 2019, to discuss Social transformations and strategic anticipation.

The meeting will discuss anticipatory culture and simplify the notion of strategic anticipation and its interaction with social transformations, with the participation of Dr. Kais Hammami, Expert, Director of the Center of Strategic Anticipation; Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Director of Human and Social Sciences.

The event will be held as part of ISESCO’s new vision through which it seeks to turn into a beacon of global outreach by promoting wider openness to the world, cooperation with international organizations sharing the same fields of action. It also aims to support civil society, protect children, give refugees and the displaced access to education and promote the new roles of artificial intelligence (AI) and future education models.

The meeting is open to the interested public for attendance and contribution to the open debate.

the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, yesterday in Tunis, held the meeting of the Joint Preparatory Committee of the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers and the closing ceremony of Tunis as Capital of Islamic Culture for 2019, due to be held on 17-18 December 2019. The meeting was presided over by Dr. Mohamed Zine El Abidine, Tunisian Minister of Cultural Affairs, and attended by Mr. Mohamed Ghemari, Director of the Executive Council, General Conference and the Specialized Ministerial Conferences of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).

In addition to officials of the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the meeting brought together the representatives of the Tunisian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Local Affairs and Environment, Tourism and Handicrafts, Equipment, Housing and Territorial Planning, and the Tunisian Customs as well as Tunis’ Municipality and Governorate.

During this meeting, Dr. Zine El Abidine stressed the need to provide adequate logistic and technical organization and media coverage for this Conference to reflect the event’s value and Tunisia’s position in the Islamic world. He also lauded the efforts exerted throughout a whole year to ensure the success of this event, give the Conference due attention in both Tunisia and the Islamic world, and upgrade the Islamic culture’s presence in the Tunisian cultural identity.

On his side, Mr. Ghemari commended the cooperation between ISESCO and the Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the other official bodies concerned with the event to ensure its success and highlight the position of Tunisia.

Moreover, the meeting reviewed the overall cultural activities and events organized throughout a whole year in Tunis as the Capital of Islamic Culture, and the participation of some of Tunisian internal parties with Islamic civilizational dimension and national and Islamic significance. The participants also explored the necessary measures and arrangements, and the final preparations for the 11^th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers and the closing ceremony of Tunis as the Capital of Islamic Culture on 17-18 December 2019.